SPECIAL REPORT: Clean fuels requirements increase catalyst demand

Requirements for cleaner fuels, rising demand for refined products, and the need to meet more stringent environmental regulations continue to increase demand for refining catalysts.

As refinery utilization has increased, refiners have demanded longer-life catalysts that extend run lengths between turnarounds of key process units. New-generation reforming catalysts are achieving significantly longer cycles for high-severity operations.

Refiners are also demanding higher-severity hydrotreating catalysts to produce diesel that complies with new low-sulfur regulations.

“The future of the refining industry will be characterized by a substantial increase in crude and hydroprocessing capacity to meet the growing demand for clean fuels,” according to UOP LLC Pres. and CEO Carlos A. Cabrera.

Worldwide catalyst demand in the oil and gas industry will reach $12.3 billion in 2010, according to a Freedonia Group study “World Catalysts to 2010.” The growing demand for chemical, polymer, and refining catalysts is due to the need for more energy-efficient processes and products.

A different study, “Catalysts for Environmental and Energy Applications,” from BCC Research, estimated that the global market for these catalysts was worth $12.2 billion in 2006. The study projected the catalyst market to grow to $13.0 billion in 2007 and $18.5 billion in 2012 for growth of 7.4%/year during 2007-12.

For the energy segment alone, of which 90% employ refining catalysts, the market will increase to nearly $5.0 billion in 2012 from about $3.2 billion in 2006, according to the BCC study. The study predicted that refining catalysts would lose market share because “other energy applications, particularly synfuels and biofuels, [will] consume increasing amounts of catalysts.”

This article details some notable developments since the last catalyst survey (OGJ, Oct. 17, 2005, p. 50). Major events include two acquisitions, a hydroprocessing alliance, many new catalyst formulations in the market, and expansions to catalyst production capacity.

The complete list of catalyst suppliers and their current formulations can be found exclusively in the Refining Catalyst Compilation-2007 at www.ogjonline.com.

Divestitures, mergers

In June 2006, BASF AG acquired Engelhard Corp. and shortly after renamed it BASF Catalysts LLC. BASF first announced it was taking over the company in January 2006. It finally completed the acquisition after many months of negotiations.

“This rebranding signifies a key milestone in the integration process as it brings together BASF’s brand strength and Engelhard’s strong reputation for innovation and quality,” according to Klaus Peter Lobbe, BASF Board member responsible for North America.

On Mar. 9, 2006, UOP LLC and Albemarle Corp. announced that they were forming a hydroprocessing alliance. The alliance, which also includes Albemarle’s joint venture Nippon Ketjen, will offer hydroprocessing technologies, catalysts, and services to help refiners meet projected increased demand for refined products and ultralow-sulfur fuels.

The alliance will specifically provide process and catalyst technologies for middle distillate hydrotreating, vacuum gas oil hydrotreating, mild hydrocracking, hydrocracking, and fixed-bed residue hydrotreating.

On Oct. 27, 2006, Sud-Chemie AG, Munich, announced that it was acquiring catalyst manufacturer Tricat Zeolites GMBH, Bitterfeld, Germany. No purchase prices was disclosed.

Zeolite catalysts help refiners manufacture high-octane gasoline, cold-resistant diesel, and high-grade intermediates used in plastics manufacturing. In the future, zeolite catalysts will also be used to produce propylene from natural gas instead of from crude, according to Sud-Chemie.

“This transaction enables us to satisfy the increasing needs of our customers for tailor-made zeolite catalysts,” said Hans Jürgen Wernicke, member of Sud-Chemie’s managing board. “Tricat Zeolites will become the Sud-Chemie Group’s second major foothold for zeolite production, together with Süd-Chemie Zeolites in Richards Bay, South Africa.”

Capacity expansions

On May 15, 2007, BASF announced it will expand the capacity of two FCC catalyst production plants in Savannah and Attapulgus, Georgia, to meet growing demand of petroleum refiners. The company estimated that worldwide demand for FCC catalysts will grow 2-4%/year during the next 10 years.

The planned capacity expansions will be operational in 2008.

The expansions will help BASF continue to create FCC catalysts with its distributed matrix structures technology, which allows BASF to develop catalysts with better yield performance.

Catalysts made with the DMS technology feature a structure combining optimized porosity with high activity. Petroleum feeds diffuse more effectively and precrack more efficiently on DMS catalysts than on traditional amorphous matrix FCC catalysts. This allows for high bottoms conversion with low coke, and higher yields of valued gasoline and other liquid products, according to the company.

On June 1, 2006, Albemarle announced that it broke ground on a new 10,000-tonne/year hydroprocessing catalyst production plant at its Bayport facility, Pasadena, Tex., and set the plant to begin production in first-quarter 2007.

“Refiner demand for our HPC products...is outpacing our current capacities, thus driving the need to increase capacities at our Bayport and Amsterdam plants, as well as the plant of our joint venture, Nippon Ketjen, in Niihama, Japan,” said Huub Cuijpers, Albemarle HPC global business director.

“The capacity increase at Bayport is the most substantial of the three expansions, and is needed first and foremost to help meet rapidly building demand for our products in the Americas.”

The company said it would also add a specialized production line at its Amsterdam plant; debottleneck its Bayport and Amsterdam plants; and make additional investments in its laboratories. The company is also considering a third debottlenecking project for Niihama.

New technology

On June 20, 2007, Albemarle and its partners ABB Lummus Global and Neste Oil announced that they had developed and tested a new higher-performance solid acid catalyst for the AlkyClean solid acid alkylation process.

According to Albemarle, the AlkyStar catalyst features 25% higher activity and 35% lower precious metal content than previous AlkyClean alkylation catalysts. It is based on a new zeolite concept.

With the solid-acid alkylation process, no acid-soluble oils or spent acids are produced, and there is no need for product posttreatment.

On Apr. 4, 2006, UOP announced that its new R-98 catalyst increased gasoline production yields in its first commercial application. Hunt Refining Co., using the new catalyst in a fixed-bed platforming unit at its Tuscaloosa, Ala., refinery, has increased C5+ gasoline yields since using the catalyst in 2005.

Although the R-98 catalyst was developed for fixed-bed platforming units, the company expects it to perform equally well in other reforming units.

“The R-98 catalyst has improved our reformate yield from hydrotreated coker naphtha by about 2 vol %,” said Steve Jackson, Hunt Refining Co.’s vice-president of refining and transportation.

The R-98 catalyst is currently operating in its second cycle at the Hunt refinery with similar activity and gasoline yields in both cycles, according to UOP.

The catalyst contains a proprietary promoter to boost yields compared to other commercially available catalysts. It is fully regenerable under typical regeneration procedures provided by UOP, resulting in multiple cycles of similar cycle length.

On Feb. 6, 2006, Albemarle and Fabrica Carioca de Catalisadores SA (FCC SA), a joint venture of Albemarle and Petroleos Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), announced a new family of FCC catalysts. The ReVolution family of FCC catalysts will help refiners process lower-quality crudes more efficiently due to the catalysts’ ability to trap vanadium, according to the companies.

On Jan. 12, 2006, Haldor Topsoe announced that it had developed a new catalyst preparation technology that leads to highly active hydroprocessing catalysts. The new BRIM technology optimizes the brim site hydrogenation functionality and also increases the Type II activity sites for direct desulfurization.

Topsoe introduced two new nickel-molybdenum (NiMo) products based on the BRIM technology. TK-575 BRIM is a NiMo catalyst optimized for the high-pressure ultralow-sulfur diesel market, and TK-605 BRIM is a NiMo catalyst optimized for the high-performance hydrocracker pretreatment market.

At yearend 2005, Albemarle announced development and commercialization of a new FCC catalyst technology with its ADZT-100 zeolite. It also announced its new ACTION family of FCC catalysts, which is based on the ADZT-100 zeolite.

“This technology can be used by refiners to maximize the total volume of transportation fuels and other feedstocks they produce, maximize the octane of their gasoline, or some combination of the two,” said Harm Scheepstra, Albemarle’s FCC global business director.